Injury Forces Ali Riley to Miss Paris Olympics

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

One day before the New Zealand women’s national soccer team was set to play its Olympic opener against defending gold medalist Canada, head coach Michael Mayne announced Wednesday, July 24, he was withdrawing team captain and left back Palisadian Ali Riley from the roster because of medical reasons.

Riley grew up on Kagawa in the Alphabet Streets and was a multi-sport standout at St. Matthew’s before embarking on a stellar soccer career at Harvard-Westlake High and later Stanford before starting her pro career in 2009 with the Pali Blues.

Now a member of Angel City FC, the NWSL’s Los Angeles-based franchise, she was hoping to compete in her fifth Olympics, having served as the Football Ferns’ captain since the Cyprus Cup in 2017.

Replacing Riley in the starting lineup is Michaela Foster, and being called up to fill the alternate spot was reserve Grace Neville.

Riley, who at age 36 has 162 caps to her credit for New Zealand, has also played in five World Cups. She made her Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008, playing every minute for the Ferns.

She played for FC Gold Pride and Western New York Flash of the WPS before playing seven years with Rosengard in Sweden, followed by Chelsea in England (2018-19) and Bayern Munich in Germany (2019-20).

Ever positive, Riley posted the following statement on her Instagram: “My Olympic Games are over. For the past seven months I’ve been struggling with a nerve injury. It’s been frustrating, confusing and excruciatingly painful in a way that’s hard to describe. The Ferns and ACFC medical and performance staff did everything possible to get me healthy for this Olympics (rehab, injections, strength, conditioning, treatment, medication, more injections) and I am so grateful to all of them. Getting selected for the team and leading the girls out for our final prep match gave me hope that I would have the honor of representing New Zealand at the Olympic Games once more but during this camp there have been bad days along with the good, and due to the unpredictable nature of this injury my coach decided that it would be best for the team to withdraw me completely from the squad. There have been a lot of tears and I’m still struggling to wrap my head around it all, but what I do know is that while my Olympic journey has ended, my Olympic dream—the Football Ferns making history at Paris 2024—is just beginning. Now I will take time to heal, cheer on my teammates and embrace the unwavering support I’ve been receiving from people near and far.”

New Zealand lost to Canada 2-1 Thursday, July 25, in Saint-Etienne and resumes Group A round-robin action Sunday, July 28, against Colombia and next Wednesday, July 31, versus host France, hoping to advance to the quarterfinals August 2.

Only once in five Olympics have the Ferns made it out of pool play, falling to the USA 2-0 in the quarterfinals in 2012 in the United Kingdom.